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Former Headteacher, Shelley England, has recently joined The Dyslexia Guild after gaining her Level 5 CPD Certificate in Supporting Adults with Dyslexia and Co-occurring Difficulties with Dyslexia Action.
Completing the first three Units of this certificate enables you to apply for ADG FE/HE Guild membership (eligibility terms apply).
As a qualified study skills SpLD tutor (non-medical helper) and psychotherapist, Shelley reflects on what Guild membership means to her.
We were encouraged by the proposals in the Schools White Paper to support more children with special educational needs within mainstream settings. The announcement of a £1.6bn fund to be made directly available to schools to become more inclusive is a welcome step forward.
You can read a summary of the major changes on our sister company, Real Training’s website here.
Notably, however, there was little direct mention of specialist literacy teachers or dyslexia per se in the proposals. The continual shortage of highly trained dyslexia and other special learning difficulty (SpLD) professionals is an ongoing concern, and for the Experts at Hand service to be successful, it is our view that this should include improved early access to specialist literacy teachers. Many of these were trained with funding from the Labour Government 17 years ago in the wake of the Rose Review (2009) and constitute a large resource. Findings from the No to Failure (2009) study indicate that literacy interventions designed and supervised by dyslexia specialists effectively mitigate long-term reading and writing challenges. Furthermore, the research highlights that early intervention offers the best outcomes for pupils as well as representing the most cost-efficient strategy for schools.
Date and time: Thursday, January 9th 2025, 9:30 AM — 1:00 PM GMT
Reserve your place: Book a place at this online event here
Key Speakers:
Professor Brahm Norwich, Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Exeter
Amanda Allard, Director of the Council for Disabled Children
Josie Grainger-Francova, Principal of Dorton College of Further Education & Director of Education at the Royal Society for Blind Children
Dr Susana Castro-Kemp, Associate Professor in Psychology and Human Development & Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education at University College London
Rob Jennings, Co-Founder of the Dyscalculia Network
Lynn Greenwold OBE, Advisor on Policy and Education Development at Patoss & Chair of the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC)
By Jan Beechey, Guild Librarian
It was this time in Spring 1994 – exactly thirty years ago – that The Dyslexia Guild was first established. In the early nineties, knowledge and understanding of dyslexia was expanding with many state schools offering dedicated support. However, the nature of this support varied hugely from setting to setting. The Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) had also been introduced in 1993 so it was increasingly important for young people to receive an accurate assessment of need.
